Photek – Releases Brand New Album: “KU:PALM,” Today!

Photek… you leave us for 10 years with no releases, and now you expect us to just come back like nothing happened? All good. We know you’ve been busy based on your IMDB profile. We’re just happy to see that Photek is back to releasing new music. Our personal favorite on this record is “This Love (feat. Ray La Montagne),” with “One Of A Kind Feat. Breakage & Veronika Coassolo,” being the strong runner-up, and “Munich” is a respectable track as well. Perhaps the track that most harkens back to the Photek we know and love from 10 years ago is “Shape Change.” It’s super bassy and has the charming beat programming and sequencing that truly represent Photek’s sound as the artist we’ve known for years.

Photek shifts his production with the times and overall this album is pretty awesome if you ever liked Photek. Even if you never did, you should hear the talent and ability in his tracks.

By the way, if you’ve never heard anything by Photek, here’s a standout video and track from 1997:

PHOTEK RELEASES BRAND NEW ALBUM ‘KU:PALM’ ON OCTOBER 23, 2012

– Photek’s first artist album in over a decade
– Album Tour to commence January 2013
– GRAMMY nominated in 2012 for his TRON soundtrack remix of Daft Punk

Hot off his Grammy nomination for the Daft Punk remix on the Tron soundtrack, legendary drum and bass pioneer, PHOTEK, drops his new album KU:PALM on October 23, 2012, his first album in over a decade. After a brief time out, PHOTEK signaled he was back in the studio at the start of 2011 with the Avalanche EP – his first dancefloor-focused release for a number of years. PHOTEK has since gone on to deliver the Aviator EP, a much-hyped DJ-Kicks release for !K7 and now… Now is the time for the artist’s full album. Now is the time for KU:PALM.

“As the album started to take shape it felt like it was sitting halfway between Modus Operandi and Solaris – which I felt was a good place to be. Now it’s finished, it might well be my favourite album to date.”With ‘Modus Operandi’ and ‘Solaris’ both regarded as seminal releases of their time – the word ‘classic’ is is no over-statement – this is the message from a producer who has been there and done it all, and is feeling more inspired than ever.

Over the past 20-years Photek, has been on a sonic-journey that has seen him explore all corners of electronic music. Often surprising, always original, it was in 1995 that he released his first Photek release – the still-amazing ‘Natural Born Killa’ EP for Goldie’s Metalheadz. It was a release that transcended the sound of drum’n’bass at the time and his deeper, more intricate take on D’n’B/Jungle went on to form a whole new sub-genre for the scene. Fast-forward to 2012 and he’s just as well-known for his ambient works, cinematic scores from Pirates of the Caribean and The Italian Job, and love of house music. It’s this open-minded approach to sound that has revived so much of his passion for the dancefloor.

Photek has drawn inspiration from both the old and new on KU:PALM, delivering an album that is defined by new ideas and superior sonics – not genre classification. He explains, “This album had to be the right listening experience for the headphone listeners as much as on a club soundsystem.”

Varying in tempos and ranging in influence, recent tracks such as ‘Aviator’, ‘Sleepwalking’ and ‘This Love’ (with vocals by Ray La Montagne) all feature, sitting alongside a variety of brand new material.

– A new Essential Mix aired on October 6, 2012 on BBC Radio 1
– Photek has toured European and American festivals, art galleries and clubs in 2012
– Forthcoming feature spot on Skream & Benga’s History of Bass Show on BBC Radio 1
– Photek’s recent material has been remixed by the brightest young stars of dance music – Boddika, Falty DL and Addison Groove to name a few.
– Photek has also recently remixed tracks for the likes of MOBY, Rob Zombie, Amon Tobin, Distance, Daft Punk, Lana Del Rey and Chairlift

“One of the most groundbreaking producers that the UK has ever seen – Rupert Parkes… In 20 years, he has released some of the most influential drum & bass records ever made.”
– Pete Tong from BBC Radio 1